Episode 203: The 20th Anniversary of "Friday Night Lights" (2004) with Caz Wolter

This week Ready 2 Retro revisits one of the greatest sports movies of all time to celebrate its 20th anniversary..."Friday Night Lights" (2004). Joining this week is Max's high school buddy and fellow football teammate, Caz Wolter, as the two of them share their fond memories of the film, their high school football experience and the craze that is MOJO FOOTBALL!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's real simple. You got two more quarters, and that's it.
The most of you have been playing this game for
ten years, and you got two more quarters, and after that,
most of you will never play this game again as
long as you live. Now, you all have known me
for a while and for a long time now, you've
been hearing me talk about being perfect. Well, I want
you to understand something. To me, being perfect is not about.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
That scoreboard out there.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's not about winning. It's about you and your relationship
to yourself and your family and your friends. Being perfect
is about being able to look your friends in the
eye and know that you didn't let them down because
you told them the truth. And that truth is is

(00:53):
that you did everything that you could. There wasn't one
more thing that you could have done. Can you live
in that moment as best you can, with clear eyes
and love in your heart, with joy in your heart.
If you can do that, gentlemen, then you're perfect.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Hey, everybody, welcome to episode two three of the Ready
to Retro podcast. I am your host, Fax and I
have a special guest with us. So normally on this
podcast I kind of pull from my childhood, but in
this episode, I'm gonna be pulling from my adolescence, my

(01:55):
teenage years. And to help me with this is my
buddy Caswell to Kaz, dude, you're finally on ready to retro.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's awesome, I know, longtime listener, first time caller, glad
to be here.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Awesome. Well, uh, Caz, I guess tell the listeners. Kind
of our friendship, our relationship.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Where do we even begin? Let's see, we went to
high school together. I transferred.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
It's a good start.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I transferred in my sophomore year and came out to
football practice and like it was like the Bad News
Bears out there, and Max was like a starting de
tackle fearce off the line. I feel a lot. We
like went against each other a lot because I was
first team offense, your first team defense, and so you

(02:49):
go out like get us ready for games. And I
always hate it against going against you because you're always
super low in your stance. It's tough to get up
on your pads. But yeah, a lot of good times.
Watched a lot of movies together, played a lot of
football together.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
A lot of mischief together.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of Shittunians. Too many
to go into on the record.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Total people this up.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
But yeah, it's it was a very very formative years.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Definitely.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
With this guy.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
You know, it's funny that when you said bad in
these bears is because you were coming from a school
that was like a prominent football program in an area,
and you know it was it was that school is
known for having a good football program. You came to
our school and just for contact. So we grew up
in the Pasadena area and there's a lot of private

(03:47):
schools there. It's the most private schools per capita in
the entire nation. So most of the kids around this
area go to private schools if they're like middle class
and up. So and anyways, just to give a little context,
so you went from a like a Catholic school and
we were small. Yeah, and we were a small Christian

(04:09):
high school that was in D twelve, like the last division. Yeah,
was just became twelve man like maybe ten years ago.
It was eight man so like, but I will say
that we were in this transition where now the the
school's pretty like established. It was small when we were there,

(04:30):
and I would say like our football program helped grow
that school.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah for sure. Yeah, yeah, like the football program, I
think we had just started. I mean, we were D twelve,
but like we were making we were making noise in
D twelve. We're doing good things.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
We were making news in the local newspaper and stuff.
It's so funny because I remember I have this remembory
you coming here and you're like, God, this team sucks.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, It's like, what is this? I'll never forget. There's
another another guy that we used to run around with
and like day one rolled up and never met him,
and he's got curly hair and he's wearing Rex backs
and he's like, I play backup quarterback. You can call
me Falcon.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (05:21):
What did I just walk into? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Because we were actually playing we played JV together first.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
There and then our junior year is when things like
turn around. And we'll probably talk about that because we're
talking about the twentieth anniversary of Friday Night Light.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
So this was a huge movie and I saw that
and it was celebrated twenty years like a month ago,
and I just felt like there wasn't any buzz for it.
I'm like, what the hell? Like, this movie was so
formative in my high school years, and I'm sure we'll
get to it. But you know, we were always thinking

(06:00):
we were in Odessa, and like we would do things
that they would do, and I just remember little things
like our captains would hold hands, you know, like our
coach was definitely pulling from it too.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, oh for sure, like yeah, embarrassingly. Yeah, I don't know.
It was. It was a very formative time. It came
out in a time in my life when like football
was like all that mattered. You know, like you're in
high school like second or third year, and so like

(06:33):
you don't quite have the light at the end of
the tunnel for going off to college and like moving
out and beating on your own. It's just like you're
like stuck and not stuck. I mean, we were very
blessed the way we grew up. Yeah, to say that
we were stuck in high school at a practice school
in Pasadena, Like you know, when you're in it, you're like,

(06:56):
oh my gosh, like I can't believe this, this is
so serious.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Right, So I will say my life changed once you
were able to drive. Oh yeah, my life changed completely. Yeah,
because you're older than me almost by a year.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
So then once you got your license, I was like
I was never around I was like like change complete. Yeah,
we were in the same grade. We should say that
we were in the same grade. Just your birthday is
in the fall, minds in the spring, and it makes
a huge difference. I don't know why, Like especially you
know that driving so once you started to driving. And

(07:30):
I'll say this to this day, dude, anytime I say
Toyota land Cruiser in the nineties, yeah, I just think
of you. I'm like, man, those good times.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
That truck was very I don't even know, dude. I
think that truck got sold for parts. We had four
hundred thousand miles on it. It was the front seat
was missing when the time, Like I mean, it was
like thrash, Like I got into like so many frigging
like fender benders, and like it was covered in like
whiskey dense and like at one point we just took

(08:01):
a grinder to the front of it and like shaved
off the bumper so it had to remember Hitler mustache
bump instead of like covering the whole thing. It was.
But it was a beast. It was a beast of
a vehicle and it did a lot of good for
a lot of good people.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
It was so good to have a four wheel drive
and oh yeah, so good. Yeah, we used to we
used to know, we'd.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Like to take it like off roading. Uh like, I
don't know, I got that car stuck like plenty of
times in like areas that I should not have been
driving in.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
But now now we're we're getting to the territory of
things where we shouldn't be talking about on the record.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, exactly right.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
All right, Well, let's put you in the hot seat.
This is something that we do with every one of
our guests, and since you have listened to our podcast before,
I think you know how this goes. But this or
that questions don't justify. So I have a few questions
for you. All right.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
I'm ready for this, dude, I'm ready.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Right, this is geared especially for you. All right, So
this is the hot seat with Kaz and we'll start
in three two one. First question, what is your favorite
movie of all time?

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Oh? Brother, we're down.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Oh okay, I think I knew that.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Favorite TV show growing up as a kid.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Oh okay, I've got two. One was it was on
Saturday's Saturday mornings that wake up early for it was
Ripley's Believe It or not really really enjoyed that every
Saturday morning with Dean Kine. And then the other one
was I don't remember the name of it, but it

(09:45):
had blue.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
From the Jungle Book Tailspin.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
It was Tailspin.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
I love Tailspin.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, yeah, great from the Jungle to like the Contraband
Pilot or something.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
Oh yeah, no, dou Tales.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
It's awesome, major major career change for him.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, great theme song too. Okay, next one, what was
your favorite band or musical artist in high school?

Speaker 2 (10:11):
In high school, you know, growing up in southern California,
I have to say probably Sublime or like Red Hot Trainers.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
I did really get into Leonard Skinner too towards the
end of high school.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
And he got super into country.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah yeah, which not so much anymore, pretty crangely really actually, yeah,
not too much.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Oh that's surprising. All right, Well, I got I want
to talk about that, all right. So next question, who's
your all time favorite football player?

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Ooh, I loved Vince Young when he was at Texas. Yeah,
there's those two seasons that were pretty magical NFL player.
I mean, I'm all, I'm all about the Atlanta Falcons
right now. Bigs Jon has been incredible lately.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Kirk Cousins huh.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, Dad, Card to the Max. Dude, I love that guy.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
All right. Next question, what's your favorite memory involving you
and me in high school?

Speaker 2 (11:22):
I loved going to Amba Records. Oh, yes, that was
a really good time. Also, I feel like a pretty
decent bit. I'd come over and we watch movies on Sundays,
like Sunday evenings maybe, and I remember your mom.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Their football Yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Those were those were pretty good memories. Yea, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
All right. So you live in the Atlanta area. Now,
where's the best place to eat?

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Oh? The best place to eat in Atlanta, dude. Atlanta
is like a culinary mecca. The food there is fantastic.
Right now, there's a restaurant in our neighborhood. It's been
going pretty strong called Bansheet. Okay, it is like absolutely fantastic.
It's like American food, but it's uh I'd say it's

(12:12):
like high end American food, but it's not stuffy. It's
a pretty casual place. Like you order something off the menu. Oh,
the menu changes seasonally, and like whatever you order off
the menu, when they bring it to you, it doesn't
look anything like you're expecting it to interesting.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Yeah, you gotta check that out. I still have to
visit you and out. All right, last question, So this
is how the Friday Night Lights movie ends talking about
what they'll miss. What do you miss most about playing football?

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Just a camaraderie, Yeah, for sure, seeing you clowns every day? Yep, absolutely,
I'm saying shenanigans.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
All right. Well that was the hot seat with Kaz.
You survived, survived stuff, good stuff, So to go back.
I think I did know that it was O brother
Rat though Jasmine was my wife. Was just listening to
the soundtrack the other day. So good. It's so good.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, it's such a good tale too. I don't know,
it's it's a fantastic movie, very well done, great actor, is,
excellent soundtrack.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
If we ever do that movie here on Ready, Rachel,
We'll make sure you have you and Jasmine on there. Okay,
So so country you're not listening to country? That's so wild?

Speaker 2 (13:31):
It's dude. The country genre. I mean, I can't speak
to it too much because I don't listen to it anymore,
but like it just it it got so poppy that
I couldn't really, I don't know, I went off to
college and got really into The Grateful Dad and it
was like like most college people do. Yeah, once I
went down that rabbit hole, I was just kind of like,

(13:52):
I'm done with country. I will say I've gotten more
into bluegrass lately, okay, which is which is really good,
Billy strings fantastic, Like blue grass player Kitchen Dwellers are
a great band. Stergel Simpson. I don't know if you've
heard of Sturgel Simpson. That's cool, not blue He's had
a couple of blue grass albums.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
But he's like album Okay, that's awesome. No, it's funny
because like my experience of you in high school was
like you were kind of like the redneck school, you know.
You were like you were, you were like you went
and visited Texas once and it like changed your life.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Oh yeah, I went to Alabama one time and I
was like yeah, and then I ended up down there
for school Like this is it? This is great?

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yeah, which brings me to your favorite football player. I'm
surprised you didn't say Cam Newton because you were there
when Album one right you were.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Won the national championship I've never had. That was the
worst GPA I ever had the the semester that we
won the national championship, and like I was on such
a high. I remember my parents cornered me when they
got my grades and they were like, you're coming back,
and like they had like two and a half years,
Like I mean, I was already in two and a
half years, and I just looked to do it, bring

(15:10):
me back. I'm a good man now exactly. Sure enough,
I was back there the next semester. But yeah, it was.
It was a very fun semester, but there's some tough
conversations that we had once the grades came in.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Totally Wait, didn't you put some money down on that?
Or you knew somebody that put money?

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, yeah, we had some friends that put in I
think they put in like twenty five bucks on Auburn
for the national championship when they're in Vegas like going
into the season, which Auburn wasn't even ranked that year.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
No, no, we were.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
I mean we might have been just outside the top
twenty five. Yeah, so that one hit pretty substantially for them.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
That's wild.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Love to see it.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
I remember just like thinking, oh man, Kaz must be
love life right now.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Oh yeah, A huge school I think we went to
every away game that year. Wow, I mean we really traveled.
Actually got to go to the game in Arizona.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, you were at the national championship game. Yeah, I
don't think I knew that. That's crazy, dude, But not
Cam Newton. He's not your favorite dude.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
I love Cam Newton. I love what he did for
Auburn University. But the dude is like, he looks like
the Wicked Way to the West.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
Now he's seen him with goofy.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeah, he's I mean, I think I genuinely think he's
a good guy, and I do. But like last dude,
I mean Falcons and Carolina.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
That's sure, you're a Falcon guy, exactly.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Falcon guy.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
I like that. I like that. Okay, So like the
last thing, yeah, miss it about football. And I'm sure
there's some people who are already done watching this. I'm like,
I don't want to listen to a bunch of jocks
talk and stuff. We're not we're not we're not real jocks.
We're really that, We're more than that. But yeah, I mean,

(17:04):
and we'll probably talk about this later about our specific team,
but I mean that was part of it. Was like
I actually switched friend groups because they weren't football players,
and just the more time we were hanging out.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
I mean, you have to think you're spending like two
and a half three hours like sometimes more after school, yeah,
the practice and then hanging out after I mean, like, honestly,
it's probably close to four hours when it's all said
and done. Like that's a substantial amount of time that
you're spending with those people. And the fact that you're
like working out together and like doing something it's tough
and like working towards a goal like that, it brings

(17:39):
people together.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, And I think it all started like we before
our junior year, we went to lightnman camp.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Remember that I wasn't there.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Oh you didn't go. I took your ticket, that's right.
I took your ticket, that's right. Yeah, No, that was
that was fun. Okay, never mind, I won't bring that up.
But it was stuff like that. Used to just you know,
hang out on the weekends.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, and games on Saturdays, hanging out Friday night, Yeah,
I was. It was Those are formative years. Those are
good times, man.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
And our coach tried to like put us together to
make sure we weren't getting into trouble.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
But yeah, but then it just made us get into
trouble because we were we.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Were together, you like wanted like, hey, make sure you
guys are hanging out being with one another on the weekends.
Like the relationships and the friendships you you form outside
of the field, you know, makes us stronger. And like,
all right, I remember we we specifically did naughty things,

(18:41):
will just say that way mischievous things, Yeah, because we
were like, well, this is worse than what we would
normally do on a Saturday or yeah, Saturday night. All right, Well,
we'll take a break and when we come back, we're
gonna finally talk about the twentieth anniversary of Friday Night Lights.
Don't go anywhere, And I'm talking to you, oh, the
person who's like, I don't like football. It's gonna be fun.

(19:03):
I guarantee it. All right, we'll be right back. We

(19:23):
are back here on ready to retro. I'm with my
buddy Kaz Walter, longtime friend from high school. We were
talking the twentieth anniversary of Friday Night Lights. SOKZ. I
was thinking about this, but maybe you can help me
refresh my memory. When was the first time you saw
this movie?

Speaker 2 (19:43):
I mean I had to have seen it in theaters.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
So you were still at the other school at this point, right, Yeah,
I think I was.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
I think there was maybe two thousand and.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
Five, two thousand and four. It's the October two thousand four.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, so I would have been a freshman, okay at
the original high schoo I was at. Yeah, and uh,
I just remember the movie just like it just like
grabbed you. Yeah, like it really did, and like you
just like like you can like relate to some of
the characters and like it's exciting. I mean, they're playing

(20:18):
good ball and like they've got all these dreams and
hopes and they're overhyved and like the performance, you know,
they suffer a bad injury, and like you just like
pretty instantly, I mean from the time that that movie starts,
like the intro where like Booby Miles is like riding
his bike and you see like the West Texas oil
fields and like you see those oil rigs going up

(20:41):
and down and like he's he's running and the kids
are all following him riding his bike. You're like, okay,
like it just like it was such a in the
music too, It's fantastic, Like with the desolate landscape and
like the pretty minimalistic rock and roll that they're playing.
Like from the second of like the movie starts, you're

(21:01):
just pulled in and like, okay, let's like let's buckle
up because this is gonna be a fun ride. But yeah,
I was a freshman when I saw it, and you know,
of course I just started playing high school football, so
I was like, oh, yeah, like this is me, Like
I'm booming Miles.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
Miles.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah you're not.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
You're not. You're boob Miles, like straight up boom Miles.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
But like a shorter and I'm not playing college football.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Anyway, not quite day twelve. You only digressed after that.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
But yeah, I mean, when was the first time you
saw it?

Speaker 3 (21:41):
So I'm trying to think about this. I'm pretty sure Murph,
who's our coach, Murphy, coach Murphy, we call him Murph.
I'm pretty sure he took the JV team to watch it, okay,
because I was like, okay, you weren't you weren't there.
I want to like confirm that with somebody else because
I have this memory because I remember going to two

(22:01):
movies in a big group like that with our football buddies.
It was I believe this movie. And then the second
one I know you were there for this is when
we all saw three hundred together.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Oh yeah, I remember.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Do you remember that? There was like fifteen sixteen of us.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
We remember that we were That was probably sophomore year
that that one came.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Out, like like junior senior year, yeah, because yeah, at
that point we were watching Radart movies, so I think
it was like, yeah, junior senior year. But yeah, I
remember those, so I'm pretty sure we watched this as
a team. Yeah. I was shocked. I was so shocked

(22:40):
at the ending. I will say, as far as the
timing of this movie coming out, I feel like it
is a very two thousand's movie, like totally differentiated itself
from the past decade. You look at something like The Replacements,
These are two different movies, right, Like the like you're
talking about, the cinematography, the score, the dialogue. It is

(23:03):
very like of that era. Although it's a time piece
in nineteen ninety eight, it still feels very early two thousands.
What I say, ninety eight, Yeah, it's very eight nineteen
eighty eight. It's set in nineteen eighty eight, but it's
very of that time in which the movie was made,
which I just I to this day, I have such

(23:28):
fun memories and feelings about this movie. I watched it
a lot in high school.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
I did too. One thing I want to say too,
like when the movie, from the start of the movie,
I feel like going into that like even if you
hadn't looked up, if you know nothing about the story
of Ermian High School in the nineteen eighty eight football team,
the way that movie starts, I feel like you can
tell that it's not necessarily going to be a happy story,

(23:59):
like from the beginning, like just the way things are shot,
like from the opening scene to like the first couple
of interviews when they're interviewing players, Like there's like a
seriousness to the film, and like I mean they're cracking,
you know every once in a while, this joke that
gets cracked in the beginning. But I want to say,
from the very big like from the start of the movie,

(24:20):
you can tell it's not gonna be happy story.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
No, And the tone is like, yeah, pretty serious as you're.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Saying, which is kind of interesting, Like when you look
at all these other football movies, like if you remember
the Titans, or like the Or I will say it's
probably I guess any Given Sunday is kind of a
serious movie too, but like it's uh, it has like

(24:48):
a different tone and vibe to it, like from the get.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
Go, oh totally. And what I loved about this movie
I think, especially being in high school, was they were
doing drills that we were doing. Like it felt real.
It wasn't like just actors per train football most of
it it's like, oh, yeah, that's believable. There was nothing
I like, oh that you know, that catch, there's no

(25:11):
one who can do that catch or it just it
felt so fluid. I mean they were doing like Oklahoma's
and I'm like, we were doing that too. Yeah, you know,
it's just the drills and the formation. You could tell
that they had football players as extras doing those drills.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
I think also one of the things about this movie
is at the time, I mean, it's got great reviews
on Rotten Tomatoes, and you know, twenty years ago when
people were reviewing it, it gets criticism, And I thought
it was interesting as I was looking through this movie,
looking through the backstory and stuff, it got criticized for

(25:49):
kind of glorifying football at the end, and it kind
of showed like in the beginning, it showed the impact
that this fanatic of football does to people. It makes
you an alcoholic, it makes you like just crazy over winning,
and Booby Miles that's all he wanted to do was

(26:12):
play football. So it was an interesting perspective because it's
like it's putting football in a light where it's like, hey,
is this actually healthy? But then they like glorified at
the end, and I thought that was an interesting perspective.
I don't know if I fully agree with that. Do
you have any thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, definitely. Well it's funny because I watched we watched
the movie last week for the first time and probably
but probably since high school. Really, yeah, it has been
a long time, and so we're excited to sit down
and watch it, and of course my wife fell asleep
like two minutes in, as they did.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
My wife doesn't like this movie either, But when I was.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
I was kind of looking up like as I was
watching it, like backstory, trying to get some further information.
And the town that it's in is a big oil town, right,
And I did some reading and apparently there was a
huge like oil bust in the eighties, which really like
and so if you look at that time piece, if

(27:11):
oil if the oil industry out there is crazy and
I can't speak too much to it because I don't
know all that much about it, but like in certain
parts of West Texas, to my understanding, it's like that's
all there is. Like everyone in the town works for oil.
And so if oil is not running and the rigs
aren't running and people aren't working, like I mean, football
in Texas is already a big deal, but like on

(27:34):
top of that, if people aren't working, that's all they've got, yeah,
you know, And so you can kind of see and
I don't think they ever call it out, but like
you see like these older players, like you see around
the town, like with their their championship rings still on,
and you see people talking to you know, the current
players and like get them to take pictures with their kids.
I mean, there really are celebrities in the town because

(27:56):
there wasn't anything else going on, right, you know. And
Booby doesn't say it, like I think that's a huge
reason to why he probably wanted to get out of there.
It is like he had this god given talent and
you know, he was going to go and make a
million dollars. Yeah, and get out of this dusty, little
West Texas town going to bigger and better things. So
just something that I thought was interesting and kind of

(28:19):
nothing today, like like talked about in the movie, but
like you can kind of see it, and like if
you actually get a little digging, you can see you know,
that's one of the reasons why in my.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
Opinion, totally. And I should say like, in preparation for
this episode, I started listening to the audio book and
I wasn't able to finish all of it. I got
about seventy percent of it, so I got the majority
of the book. The book was actually written by a Yankee.
His name is HG. Bissinger, and he was actually a reporter.

(28:54):
So he found out about Odessa and this like crazy
fanaticism that they have in the small town of West Texas,
and he moved there from Philadelphia. He lived in the city.
He got to know the coaches, he got to know
the players, he got to know these families. And the

(29:15):
book gives a lot of context to the movie. And
this was a movie that I've watched so many times,
and then I started listening to the book and then
it gave me a like a more context to everything,
and it's not as blatant in the movie, but it's
sprinkled around there. But like you were saying, the boom

(29:36):
of the oil, they don't really go into it as
much in the movie, but there's this huge social economics
and there's a lot of racism that's going on in
the book and the messenger he's blatant about it, like
it was really racist. And what's crazy is the field
that is in the movie, Ratliffe Stadium. That is the

(30:01):
actual stadium that the players played in.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
That's insane. The stadium.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, no, it's crazy. You think it's like some college stadium.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
But colleges I've seen for sure.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
But in order for the production crew to film there,
the school and the city had an agreement that they
couldn't talk about the racism that was in the book.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
That's interesting, Yeah, because they.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
Thought that the book put them in a unfair and
they thought it wasn't Yeah, it was, it was. It
looked bad on the city. It really too. Yeah, there's
like whole chapters on just how racist the city.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Well, okay, there's that one scene where Coach Gains is
like eating dinner with the boosters. Yeah, and I think
that's the like there's a lady she drops the hard rye.
But I think.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
That's that's the only time. Yeah, but the book it portrays,
like the coaches say it, there's like no shame whatsoever.
It's just, you know, they just say, hey, this person's block.
They're hard are you know? And this was like the eighties.
And what was so interesting about it was the book
goes into the history of the school and how like

(31:16):
fifteen years before Premium was an all white school and
just now like they're still kind of dealing with the
integration of you know, of blacks and Hispanics and whites
all in one. They didn't go into that because I
feel like that would be too much like remember the Titans, Like, yeah,

(31:37):
it just came like a year or two before that.
So it and really the story does is not like, hey,
this is how all races can come together and you know,
be better for humanity. That's not what the book is
trying to do. The book is just really I mean,
it's fantastic. If you can read it or listen to audiobook,
I would highly recommend you gas but also the listeners

(32:00):
because it gives I think just a depiction of how
life was fifteen years after integration in the civil rights movement.
And actually, I with this election season and stuff, actually
saw a lot of parallels to what's going on right now,
which was interesting. Yeah, we'll just leave it at that.

(32:26):
Let's talk about this cast, dude, because his cast is
actually pretty stacked nowadays. Yeah, so we have Billy Bob
Thornton who plays Coach Gaines. How do you think Billy
Bob Thornton's portrayal of Coach Gary Gaines's in this movie.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
I thought it was really good. I think he did
a good job for trying the coach.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Terrible coach though heay tell me about it funny.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
Well, all right, here's the thing, Like you've only got
one backup or two I guess two backup running backs, right,
one of them doesn't have his helmet in, so Booby
goes back in, gets injured. And then immediately after when
they're in the locker room after the game, Uh, it's
a trainer or something that tells the coach like it
feels like a terror or something like that. Like the dude, no,

(33:18):
he knew that his leg was like muffed, like it
was done. Yeah, and like three weeks later with what
no Rehab, he sends him back in. Not only does
he do that the first play when Booby gets back in,
he like, I think he shimmy's one way and tries
to go the other way and ends up grabbing his
knee and Coach Gains keeps him in again. So great actor,

(33:42):
terrible coach. Who else.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Hanie Britton, Oh dude, I looked it up. She's thirty
seven in this movie, Like really, yes, So she's run
our age and I'm like, all right, he's us.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah. She fun fact about her, she's well, I'm sure
everyone knows, but she's on the TV show as well.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
Right, and we'll talk about the TV show. The one
thing I wanted to talk about Billy Bob Thornton is
at the time, and and granted, you know, we're like
early high school. So he's coming off the heels of
Bad Sanna and it was just and that movie was
like really popular. So he's in Bad Sanna and I'm like,

(34:26):
he's in love. Actually plays the US President. So this
is around this time, right, two thousand and three, and
then he plays this serious coach and I thought it
was just so weird. And then he does The Bad
News Bears like follow up, and then you know he
was like pretty big at that time. And then he
did that movie Eagle Eye. But I really don't know
what Billy Bob Thornton's doing now. He had that.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Goliath that I haven't seen that blade. Oh that's right,
it's Billy Bob Thornton, you know what I mean? Like
that's as a classic. Yeah, who else is in this movie?
Let's see Derek Luke.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
So, Derek Luke plays Booby Miles, the running back. Did
you know that Derek Luke was thirty years old when
he did this movie.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Yeah, I can see that.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
His physique is this like top notch.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah, he's got a great physique.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
He's also in Captain America The First Avenger, which I
always forget. But then when I, uh, when I see
that movie all the time, I go, oh, yeah, Booby Miles, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Booby Miles, Like that's a role. I mean, I don't
I can't name another movie he's ben in though, Like
to me, he's always Miles. I don't even know his name.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
Yeah, Derek Luke, Derek Football.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Well, Lucas the quarterback, Mike Winchell.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Oh yeah, talk about talk about that performance, Dude, I.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Thought he was great. He had a big old forehead,
I mean, quarterback.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
His Texas draw is authentic. He's from taxes.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
And then he followed that up, I want to say,
like a year later he followed it up with Fast
and Furious Tuggio drift right and was rocking like the
same accent.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
That's his accent. That's how he talks.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Yeah, I know, it's funny.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
He's also in forty two. Have you seen that movie?

Speaker 2 (36:18):
No? Was that the that's the uh Jackie Robinson Jackson?

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Yeah, yeah, not Jackie chan jacket.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Different Jackie jack entirely different Jackie. No, I haven't seen
that one.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Who else? Tim McGraw's in it?

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Oh yeah, random? I always forget he's in it.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
I know. And uh, Garrett Headland plays Don Billingsley, tim
McGrath's son.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Right, and he's big, now, dude, Garrett Hulin is he? Yes,
he's in a bunch of stuff.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
I know. He was in Tron and then he was
in that movie. Did you ever see Four Brothers? Yeah,
because I think that was like maybe year or two
after Friday Night Lights came out. And see that movie.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
He's in like oh, but he was in that that movie, uh,
the United States Versus Billie Holiday, which got some kind
of some buzz, and he's just like you see him
and you're like, oh, yeah, I know this guy totally.
Like you just see he's in Aragon, he's in Troy.

(37:17):
He's just like a working actor now and he pretty
much got a start in uh for a night like.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
And famous Jet Jackson.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yes, Lee Thompson Young Rip. Did you know he passed away?
I did. Yeah, that was a long time. It was
twenty thirteen. Now do you know a long time ago? Now?

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, it's sad.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
It's it's sad. That's a sad story.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
I don't know too many details about it, but I
know it's child actors. Yeah, that's I mean, honestly, that's
one of the biggest reasons I didn't get into it
was because I know how difficult it is to be
a child actor and I, you know, three year old
cats sat down and say, you know what this lifestyle is,
and for me.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
You know, you had those opportunities. Dude. Yeah. Jay Hernandez
plays Chavez and I didn't know this, but he was
in the suicide squad, the bad one, not the good one,
The Bad One with Will Smith. He played the obolo.
He played like the cholo guy with the fire that's him. Yeah,

(38:19):
so I guess he's a magnum p I and Hawaii five.
Oh he plays in like all these TV stuff. But
you know, if you can find it exactly. The last
person I wanted to mention is Amber Heard is in
this movie.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, Don takes her home.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
Right, they're on the couch. I mean she's like, she
has her shirt off and everything. I think Maria, Maria,
that's what it is. Yeah. It was her first credit
on a movie. It was it was Friday Night Lights. Yeah.
Now now she's taking dumps and beds now so, but

(38:58):
she's come a long way.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Okay. I think the best part about that scene, and
it happens so quickly, is they're on the couch and
they realize Tim McGraw has Don Billings right Richie, his
dad is standing there, and then he like makes some
comment about how she's grown sure has grown up. And

(39:20):
then the girl that he brings home walks out and goes, oh, hey, Maria, like, Brodie,
you just stay home a high school chick, probably, Yeah,
what is going on here? Which he was kind of
a shady character in that whole movie.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
In real life, the dad was thirty six, thirty seven,
so so like totally possible, right, maybe not the best thing,
but you know, nineteen eighty eight taking home like a
senior girl or maybe just graduated nineteen, you could see it.
It's it's not great, but yeah, dude, and I think

(39:58):
the relationship. And they added that by the by the
way that that's not in real life, that wasn't in
the book. They added that dynamic. That's part of the
hardest things to watch is when Tim McGraw's character gets
really abusive, and the real coach Gains said he would
have never allowed a parent to kind of take over

(40:19):
that situation and come onto the field and like basically
just like put hands on the sun. So there was
like that was like one of the biggest s gripes
that the real coach Gains had. He's like, I would
never allowed that, but get it. For Hollywood, they had
to like build the tension and to have that reconciliation
because each character has a flaw or a personal thing

(40:44):
that they're dealing with, and for Billingsley, it's his dad
and being in the shadow of his dad.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yeah, yeah, interesting, it's interesting dynamic too. Also I read
that they moved down from Oklahoma for him to play
there at perm which I thought was interesting and goes
to show how crazy people are about high school football,
like moving a state away to go play it, like
which I mean today in twenty twenty four, that's not

(41:12):
that crazy, but like at the time, like back in
the eighties, I can't say so crazy.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
I think that's nuts. Yeah. And at the time, Billingsy
didn't even know his dad and he just went to
live in Odessa because that's where his dad went, and
he wanted to play high school football at an elite level,
and Permiam was the place. Yeah, it's crazy what people
go through and the hoops they jump through. I mean

(41:39):
it just shows the how big of a scale Texas
football is in West Texas, like it is live or Die. Yeah, everything,
it's crazy And it doesn't really show that much in
the movie. But like everybody works black and white, like
their dogs name Mojo, like everything everything is just black

(42:03):
and white. Everything revolves around this team, even on the
off season. It's insane. It's insane.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
Yeah, Like the stands I remember, like when they chose
them doing summer workouts, like they've got the stands like
half full. Yeah, summer workouts.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah. People would go to practices every day to watch
to watch them. I won't get into all of it.
It is on Wikipedia a lot of the differences between
the book and the movie, but uh, basically I would
just say again, it's just like the context, the context
of everything. So for one instance, there's that I think

(42:41):
powerful scene where Booby Miles gets injured and he goes
to this doctor and it's in Midland. So what you
don't get in the movie that you get in the
book is there's this rivalry between Midland and Odessa, and
not only football but just socially economically, like Midland has

(43:05):
all the money. They also are a oil based city.
But basically it was like Odessa was just the blue
collared city and all the money went into Midland. So
that's why Booby's like, who's paying you? Like he thinks
that he's just telling them this because the rivalry between
Midland and Permium the football team is so large that

(43:29):
Booby's like, oh, you're cheating. You're just telling me I
can't play because you're Midland. You know. Yeah, Because even
like before I saw that, I was like, this is
kind of a weird reaction. Why does he think he's
paying them? Like, I didn't under really understanding. I didn't
know if there was like a white black contrasts or

(43:50):
like conflict there, Like I didn't understand until I read
the book. I was like, Oh, there's this huge rivalry
and it is like they hate each other. These cities
hate each other. So there's the context of that. Also,
when you watch the movie, you probably researched it. But
when you heard Ivory Christian, who they call Preacher, I

(44:14):
always thought that was a joke because he was so quiet.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
I kind of thought, yeah, I guess I kind of
thought so too.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
So I think that's how the movie plays it. But
in real life, Ivory Christian no pun intended, was a
born again Christian and wanted to be a pastor, and
he almost quit football because he felt like he was
supposed to do that route. So that's why he was
called Preacher. And there's little instances where the movie kind

(44:43):
of plays with it, but again, without the context, you
don't know why. But when I saw it, I was like, oh,
that's why Bobby goes. You know, this is god given talent,
like God gave me this. He's talking to you know,
the preacher and yeah, and then because Booby's like, you know, here,
I'm talking to the holy Man or to the godly man. Well,

(45:06):
God gave me this gift. And then the other thing
was at the very end, which I think is such
an interesting and powerful scene as well. But when they're
in the locker room and they're doing the Lord's Prayer,
Coach Gain says, I read would you lead us? Because
he's the preacher man. Yeah. So it's just things like

(45:27):
that where I'm just like, oh, you have more context.
You know, Booby's story is different in real life. He
didn't get hurt in a game. He got hurt in
a scrimmage, which was actually more devastating. And what they
don't really say in the book is he was forgotten

(45:48):
after week five, Like Comer came in and they were saying,
we don't need Booby. Comer is like better than Booby,
and there was no redemption story for Booby. Once Booby quit,
he left the team.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Oh it went down hill.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
Yeah, yeah, he moved, he moved out of his uncle's
house and like you know, he started getting into you know,
drugs and got arrested. And I think recently he turned
his life around and is now giving back to the community,
which I commend him for. But yeah, it's he.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Got locked up twenty twenty thirty.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
Yeah, oh really, Yeah, thirteen years he's locked up right now. Yeah,
Oh dude, that's okay. That maybe he didn't clean up
his life.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Yeah, dude, aggravated, aggravated his soul at twenty eleven, released
in twenty eighteen, and in twenty thirteen, he got.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
I think I saw a video in twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty two. Yeah, he's locked up right now. Oh
that's sad. That's really sad. What a tragic life, honestly,
it really is.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
I also read a little bit when I was looking
those that up and like reading a bit about more
more about him, Like he didn't make any substantial money
for the movie or the book.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
He didn't nothing. That's horrible.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
I mean, they paid him for there's a couple of
scenes that he's actually like the actual movie MOUs is in. Yeah,
and so I think that they they sled him some
money for that, but it wasn't anything substantial.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
Yeah, that sucks, I mean, because I don't know I
don't know how rights work with that, you know.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Yeah, and I mean legitimately, like they turned the tragic
story of like your high school football career and like
all the aspirations that you had into a you know,
multimillion dollar like box office hit and like get anything
for it. That's horrible, that's like more solid.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
That's so sad. No, what a sad story? Like honestly,
I mean not like I mean the dude.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
I mean, clearly the guy had issues been walked up
twice of this, you know, but it is like man like,
if things had gone differently.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
Like maybe it wouldn't always yeah, I mean, he would
probably have made at least a D one school, you know,
he and I think he went to community college. But
uh yeah, with Booby, I mean, what it didn't talk
about the movie was he bounced around in the foster
system and that's why his uncle took him in, because
his uncle visited him at a group home and was like,
now I got to take this kid in. And actually,

(48:15):
Booby he came back after the third week like in
the movie. He played like three games and he eventually
got he he quit the team because he wasn't playing
anymore because he wasn't as impactful on the field, I.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Mean playing with a torn acl MCL of course, so
it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
So he kept playing that and they gave him like
twelve carries, fourteen carries and he would only have like
twenty yards or something, but Comer would have like seven
carries for like one hundred and twelve Like that year
Comer went twelve hundred yards, which is crazy in high
school's yes, yeah, so yeah, it's it's sad and and

(48:57):
he quit the team. And you know, I movie, I
do like that they put them in a better light,
like they just don't, you know, shit on them, because
that would kind of sud so. But yeah, you mentioned
the cameo. It's pretty much that. I mean, there's just
little things like that. Like Chavez, he grew up in
a pretty wealthy family. His dad was a lawyer. That's

(49:18):
why he became a lawyer. There's just little things like that.
What's funny about the book is that they get into
the school life a little bit more. And what's crazy
is academically the students, the players would do all the
hard courses sophomore junior year and then just do all
elective senior year, so that they could just focus on

(49:39):
football smart smart.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Scholarship.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
All right, Well, let's take another break and when we
get back, we'll we'll talk a little bit about the soundtrack,
scenes that we like, we'll mention the TV show, and
we got to tell our story about the two thousand
and six MHS team. So we'll be right back. Yeah,

(50:23):
welcome back to Rady Reshow. We are talking the twentieth
anniversary of Friday Night Lights. All right, So, Kaz, what
are just things that we've been kind of dabbling into it.
We talked about the real story of this. Now let's
talk about the movie. What are things that you just
love about this movie?

Speaker 2 (50:43):
I love the amount of pressure that these kids were
under to get the championship. I mean, they couldn't even
go There's that scene where they go and they're like,
who is it. I think it's Billingsley and Chavez or
maybe Ivory are eating like breakfast burritos in the car
and they can't even like eat a burrito without someone

(51:06):
coming up to them and like checking on them and
telling them, Oh, you gotta go out and get a championship,
ring like get you one of these. Like, I mean,
it's just it's almost honestly, like rewatching it. It's almost comical,
like the amount of pressure that's on these kids. I mean,
at the end of the day, they're playing for football,
like it's an extracurricular activity, and yet the whole town

(51:27):
is treating it like it's life or death. So I
don't know, I enjoyed. I mean, I do enjoy that
because it's such a ridiculous thing. But yeah, like the
camaraderie between all the guys that are playing on the team, Like, yeah,
just seeing them work together and work toward a goal
when they lost the start running back and like their

(51:47):
quarterback isn't all that great, like, and yet they still
manage to get you know, as far as they did
the scene with the coin toss in the in the
indisclosed location, that.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Was real, dude, that's a rare story that I would say.
Most of the stuff in this movie is actually it
happened to a t.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
But yeah, and it's I mean, it's a really emotional movie,
I think, Like I mean, I think the pinnacle, like
most emotional scene is when Booby's cleaning out his locker
and takes his name bag and then he gets back
into the car and he's just like crushed, Like you
can tell he's just like scared, like I don't know

(52:28):
what to do now with my life. I can't do
anything else. We'll play football, right, and like everything that
he had like hoped and dreamed he's thinking is like
completely out the window.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
Yeah, He's like, what am I supposed to do now?
I was supposed to be a football player?

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Like, yeah, I was gonna buy your house.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Yeah, I got nothing. Now I can't offer anything. And
it's crushing because it's like you see Booby in the
very beginning of the movie. He's got the leather jacket's
got the chains, he's cool. He's looking through all of
his offer letters, you know, yeah, the world. Yeah, and
he doesn't seem like a high school kid, right, Like
the reality of what his world is going to be

(53:06):
is you're right, is not what kids have the exposure
to at all, right, Like only a very special and
a very few amount of kids can actually experience that.
And then he gets into that car, you know, and
he's still He goes out with like pride and he's like,
you know, all right, win State, I'm out of here, right,

(53:29):
and then he just breaks down and it's like there's
the teenage kid. That's the vulnerability, the insecurity, the brokenness
that many teenagers have, that's all. Yeah, And it was
probably always in there, that that that stuff was always
that insecurity, that all that stuff was in booby, but

(53:50):
he was able to hide it off of his skills
and talents and being a football player.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
Yeah, But I love all the scenes with this with
this uncle, Like yeah, to this day, I quote and
he can pass.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
Yeah exactly. Yeah, I mean another interesting storyline. I mean,
I know we talked about Billingsley for a little bit,
but like Mike Winchell, that storyline is pretty interesting too. Yeah,
Like they allude to it a little bit at the
one of the girls at the party that they're at,
like pretty early on in the movie. I think she

(54:25):
says something about his mom being crazy, and she's like,
are you crazy too? Or something like that. But like,
not only does he have the same amount of pressure
that like everyone on the team has, but it's like
he's got kind of a i mean, not a great
home situation.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
It seemed like, yeah, but yeah, it's a little fabricated
in the movie, but it's good. It's good for the movie.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
And like he's i mean he's got like a small
college coming down asking him if I remember the coach.
They're sitting in the living room and they ask him,
like do you like playing football? And like he answers yeah,
But it's kind of like does he actually like playing
football or it is like he just like has he
just played his entire life and like the next step
was for him to be the high school quarterback you

(55:09):
know and win state. Like how much did he actually
enjoy it or is he just like doing it? Because
it's like the path that he's gone down.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
I don't know, no, what's crazy? Is like and this
is in real life. Most of the players were like
five to nine, you know, like Chavis was a five
to nine, two hundred pounds DN and tight end.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
Oh that's tiny.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
Yeah, So like that was and he was considered like
buff and huge, like he was like you know, beefy
back then. But you look at it. Premium has been
around since his sixties and they've produced probably about a
handful of pro athletes. You would think with this program, Yeah,

(55:54):
they would.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
I was done to see like the NFL players that
they had.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
It wasn't that Roy Williams, who Yeah, that's the biggest
one he played the Cowboys and apparently he's in the
movie as well. Yeah, but like these are just normal
kids who are just they have the facilities, they have
the tradition, and they have the coaching. It's not like
Winchell was gifted, fully gifted. It wasn't like he's you know,

(56:24):
when he dropped back.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
He was zoning in on the prison he was throwing too.
I was like my hair out and I was like, okay,
is this like is this like is this just Hollywood?
Like not knowing that a ter to go through.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
It Also bugged me was his chin straps when he
puts it, Like I was trying to remember, like I
think it depends on the quarterback whether they have their
chin straps on or not in the huddle.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
From my remember, like our quarterbacks always had the chin
straps on, but like every time he's in the huddle
he doesn't have his chin straps on. I'm like, dude,
what are you doing put your chin strip bought?

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Yeah it is. There's another thing I noticed, like in
their football games they would be like covered in blood. Yeah,
which like I know we were D twelve, but like
it plays ball. But like I was thinking, I was like,
that seems ridiculous. And then I read that they were
playing on like the original Astro turf, right, and which

(57:24):
we played on, which I'm sure is like not any
fun to play on.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
Were you there when we had the old turf?

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Hey? When I got there for my first practice, they
were pulling that turf up.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
I never that was fine. Seven.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
That was horrible, dude, And like you were covered in
like rug burns. So maybe the maybe like the blood
and the raspberries that they had is actually accurate.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
That was the worst. I remember coughing up the powder,
the green powder, and it was from the seventies and
it like just was in the southern California heat for
like decades without it being it was It was probably
a safety hazard. We shouldn't have been playing.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Sure, just like when you come down with the black
long when you're like fifty.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
Diet like forty six. It's my plunks right now. But yeah, no,
I remember getting bruises and stuff, and and like being
on the line. There would be times where I would
be bleeding. What is in every game? But I would
be like, oh, dude, there's blood on me, Like that's yeah.
You never felt it right after the game. It was

(58:33):
like hours later when you're a general and came down
that you heard. I was like, oh, I have a
bruise right there, I have a bruise on my hip
where I have a bruise. Yeah. One thing I was
thinking about was I was trying to think, well, why,
what's what this city that they're so such fanatics? And
I think because of and this is just my perspective

(58:56):
with only reading most of the book and watch this movie,
so I don't know any firsthand experience, but I would
imagine that it's like that's what they can control, right.
They can't control the ups and downs of how much
a barrel of oil costs. They can't control for them,
which mattered was like the integration things and their culture changing.

(59:20):
But what they can control is how much I can
cheer for this team if these boys represent us, our city,
our pride, yea. Everything else is kind of like out
of our hands. But we do this really well, Like
we can control this. We can control our play, we

(59:44):
can control how well we dominate the other teams. So
I was like, I think that's it, man.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Yeah, And I think it's I mean, it's good. It's
anytime the community is rallying behind it, you know. I mean,
no matter how you feel about football, I mean it's
a good thing.

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Yeah, Like it definitely takes people together supporting.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
I think it's good. I don't necessarily know that it
was like the best or healthiest way that they want
to not doing it, but like it is good to
see the community rally behind something, you know, and be
able to be proud of something. But like in the
grand scheme of things, high school football is not.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Yeah, we got to talk about the soundtrack Explode.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
It's a great soundtrack.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
It's so good.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
It's like so fitting with the movie too, Like the
landscape and the soundtrack just like go hand in hand
and like the seriousness and like that band. I don't
think they have any lyrics.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
I think they just play like yeah, they're instrumental.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
It's like it's a post rock or like progressive rock.
I don't even know, but it's.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
It's it's uh, it's called it like Midwest like yeah
or something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Yeah, but it's it's funny. I mean, the whole soundtrack
is Explosions in the Sky. There's one song by Daniel Lenoi.
Yeah I don't know who that is, and there's a
Bad Company song on the sound track too. It's good.
But I think the best song, which you only hear.

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
It in the trailer, is you're talking New Noise, New
Noise but Refused.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
No, I'm talking about Golden Age by Back Okay. And
then also there's because I was watching, like before we
started recording, I was watching the trailer just like all right,
like what did I mean? It's like, let me see
if there's any tips this song Until the Day I
Die by Story of the Year, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
Too really, I'll post it till the day?

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
That's a couple of other.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Scenes, the party scene, what is it?

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
There's that rap song, yeah, the run DMC tricky.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Yeah, that's another one. Yeah. It didn't make it onto
the soundtrack either, so I think I think as good
as the soundtrack wise, there was some some things that
they left out that they probably should have put on there.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
The song that I love is New Noise by Refuse,
and it's actually funny because it's now back in popularity
with The Bear. Have you watched The Bear?

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
So the song that goes like, yeah, the song that
they play in the kitchen, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
They're doing like a two minute drill. That's what they're
they're playing. I know exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
Yeah, that one's so I freaking love that song. And
then when I was watching The Bear, I was like,
what they took the song from Friday Night Lights. Yeah,
but apparently, like Explosions in the Sky was intended to
write an original score. But I can't believe we haven't

(01:02:47):
talked about Peter Berg. Peter Berg is the director. He's
also cousins of the author Bissinger, so there's a little
nepo going on, but it's all good. It worked out great.
But currently they put in placeholders from the album The
Earth is Not a cold dead place and a lot

(01:03:08):
of Explosions in the sky like first Breath, after coma
your hand in mind, they would put it as placeholders,
and then they realize, we don't have to read, we
don't have to record new music. This is gonna this
fits right, So they actually took the music from the album.

(01:03:30):
So the album came first, but they actually in the soundtrack,
they did remakes and they put an orchestra behind it
on some of the songs, and to this day, like
I probably have listened to this album. I'm not exactly,
probably five to ten times a year, especially when I

(01:03:51):
was in an office job. I couldn't listen to music
that had lyrics, so I had a lot of explosions
in the sky.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
Yea yeah. I mean, no matter how you feel about
the movie or football or West Texas, you can get
down with this soundtrack because it's I mean, it's tremendous.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
It's so good. Uh, let's talk about the TV show.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Golly, that's a whole other episode Man Fantastic completely diverts
from the movie and the book. It gets it. I mean,
it's a good it's a good show, but it gets
so ridiculous. I know we were texting about it a
little bit. But like at one point, like Landry Clark,
who's like this like dinky little nerd that hangs out

(01:04:37):
with the backup quarter.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
Jesse Plemmons.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Yeah, Jesse Plemons, big actor. Like I think in like
season three or four, he like straight up murders somebody
or like hides a body.

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
Does it Tarak like killer or kill the body and
he hides it?

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Yeah? Maybe Tyra, yeah, Tyrasy. There's so many freaking like
loopholes in the show. But it's so right. I mean,
I I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It's a good.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Watch, but like, yeah, it's its old episode for sure,
but it it it's not set in Odessa. It's a
totally made up city. I believe Dylan Dylan is there?
Is there a Dylan Texas? I don't think so is there? Okay?
And then Michael B. Jordan and then it's like East

(01:05:22):
Dylan right yea.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Yeah. Crossover characters? Who do we have Connie Britton.

Speaker 3 (01:05:32):
With Coach Taylor's Yeah, Coach Taylor the.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
Movie and the TV show. Do you know the other
crossover character?

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Yeah, it's Garrety, mister Garrett, Yeah, buddy Garrett. Dude? Do
you know that Lila Garrity? Okay, what's her name? Uh,
Minka Kelly. I saw her in real life?

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Do oh really? Yeah? What'd you see it? So?

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
My elementary school? No, she's a parent. She's dating the
Imagine Dragons guy and he is a parent at the
old school I used to go to and every year
they put on this like school fair and he was
performing and she was just chilling there like she's like
a mom, like a school mom.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
I saw her and I was like, that's freaking Minka Kelly.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
Dude.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
I was just like, I.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
Was just wow, yeah, like wow, that's Kelly.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
It was like, it's not exactly who you expect to.

Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
See it, and like, is she's that attractive in real life?
You're just like, oh my god. Yeah. But anyways, great show.
That was one of the first shows my wife and
I watched and bench together when we first got married.
You introduced that to us. You gave me the first season,

(01:06:56):
like it didn't come in cases or anything. You just
handed them to me. And I still have them, dude,
I still have them in my house. So yeah, I
gotta I want to rewatch that. Now I'm on this
like Friday Night lights Kick, I might have to rewatch
the show.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
You should rewatch it, and you could do an entire
episode on it, because it's let's do it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
Let's let's watch it, and we will come back and
watch it. It's a great It's it's totally like c W
like teen stuff, teen garbage, but I liked it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
It's garbage.

Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
Doesn't make sense. They're supposed to be seniors in the
first season and we're like, uh, we still want these
characters and actors. They're actually freshmen. You're like, I'm pretty
sure they're seniors kids seven years seniors.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Yeah. Yeah, And in fact, I think the funniest loophole
is Buddy Garrity adopts this like Mexican guy who's like
some big nude tight end. Oh yeah. Two episodes and
then no one ever like mentions or hears from him again,
which is fantastic, just like disappears.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
Because you could do that back then on network TV.
You can't do that now.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
And like the production quality is like you can see
too when next time you're what when you started over? Yeah,
you can see scenes where you'll actually catch cameraman in
the shot.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
Really clear eyes, full heart can't lose man.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
Yeah, clear eyes, full hearts can't lose.

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
Okay, So let's talk about let's talk about the two
thousand and six Marinatha High School team. Oh yeah, so
should I set it up?

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Yeah? Set it up?

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Okay. So going from sophomore year to our junior year,
this was about June. One of our teammates, someone who
I grew up elementary school. His name is Kwame. He
went to a party and got shot and he passed away.

(01:08:57):
And the reason why I'm starting there is like his
passing really brought our team together, and it was devastating,
like it it was so hard to experience that. I mean,
being sixteen, you know, I don't know how well you
knew him. I knew him really well, and I and
I saw him that day we were going, you know,

(01:09:17):
one on one. He was my partner that year. I
was doing a line stuff, he was doing d line stuff.
And what was so crazy was just like he told
me he was going to go to the SATs. He
wasn't going out, and then the next day I found
out like he passed away. He's like, oh, he got
shot at a party, and I was like, Kwame didn't
go to a party. He did the SAT today. So

(01:09:38):
it was horrible, like horrible to this day, there was
no one charge for his murder or anything. So we
had this like really just devastating thing that happened, and
it really brought us together and Kudaus to our coaching
staff and to our coach, who Murph was like, dude
twenty five twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
Completely, I mean, I don't know, it could have been
a completely lost season, yeah, totally, like it could have
just like but no, I mean he did a really
good job. I mean, dude, twenty five, I was still
trying to drink two beers at once.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
I know. I mean, kudos to him, man, And did
you know he just got inducted to the Hall of Fame.
There's a Hall of Fame now, Oh really? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
What about us?

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
I'm still waiting, don't worry. But we're still eligible. We're
still eligible. So we had this like purpose for this team.
And you know, we were playing on behalf of our friend,
our teammate Kwame, because he couldn't be there and we
felt like, you know, not felt like his life was
cut short. So we had a bigger purpose and we

(01:10:49):
had the best season that our school has ever seen,
and we made it all the way to the championship round.
See I have championship round Division twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
But you know, you remember we played that year?

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
Was it? That was the Brentwood year? Right? But it
was Campbell. We played Brentwood in the semis.

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
We actually played and I wanted to touch on this.
We played Brentwood three times in a two year span.
But the first team that we played this year in
our D twelve school was California School for the Deaf.

Speaker 3 (01:11:25):
Oh yeah, yeah, I remember that. I thought you were
talking about playoffs. Yeah, and we beat the crap out.
I feel bad. I like got I got a sack
because I just watched the quarterback because they can't say hike,
so what they do is the quarterback taps the centers

(01:11:45):
butt and then so right when I saw the quarterback
move his hand, I jumped the gap and like by
the time he had the ball, I was past the center,
and I like, I got my first sack. And I
felt bad. Dude, even celebrated. I wasn't happy. I was
like this, it felt.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
We beat him up. We beat him up good.

Speaker 3 (01:12:10):
I felt bad, Dude. I don't feel good about that game.

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
They didn't hear it coming.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
But yeah, so what's what's crazy is, yeah, we we
beat this team, Brentwood, who was like our rivals. And
you know who's on that team, dude, Uh, who's on
that Brentwood team? Jack Nicholson's son, who was just in
U Ray Nicholson. Oh really yeah, he's in Smile too.

(01:12:39):
And I was like the whole time watching that movie,
I was like, I freaking play football consist ude.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
So yeah, I mean like, honestly, our season could have
been a movie in itself. Yeah, there's like there was
so many like games that we we came back in
the four quarter, we were dow by twenty one points
with less than five minutes. We forced the game into

(01:13:05):
overtime and we won. Yeah, like just crazy stuff. Like
to this day, my dad said, I've never seen on
any level, I've never seen such a big comeback in
such a small amount of time.

Speaker 2 (01:13:16):
Yeah, it was pretty well.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
Yeah. And then so we get to the CIF Championship.
We were in our hometown, we were at the local college.
It was raining. It was like it was raining. It
was like it was everything. This is it, this is
this is what we've spent the entire year for. And
we lost by one point.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
Yeah, heartbreaking.

Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
It was dude, I missed.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
It was a missed extra point.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
Yeah. And it was you who told me after the fact.
Because we were playing on college field goals which are
a little smaller. You go, hey, you realize if we
were playing on a high school field, that would have
gone in. And I was like, oh my god, you
told me that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:14:04):
I could never shape that dude.

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Yeah, that was a rough one. It's funny like thinking
back to the movie, like the last scene when like
they get so close to the end zone, and then
the games are out of time. It's it's done. Yeah,
And like you see the other team running on the
field and celebrating. I'll never forget we lost that game.

(01:14:26):
And I watched that other team just like pour onto
the field, and I was just like, damn, this sucks.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Well. I remember because we were we were up fourteen
zero right out the bat, and we were like, oh,
we were going to dominate this team, and then we
just hit a wall and they ended up going twenty
one unanswered points and we scored with I think less
than a minute left. Yeah, And I don't know if

(01:14:53):
we had I think we might have one or two
timeouts left. Our all area kicker who was the punter
for the Navy, he would have got it actually drafted
by the NFL if he didn't go the Navy. But
you know he he never missed an extra point, and
here we are, bad snap, bad hold in the rain,

(01:15:14):
muffed kick, and I thought we made it, Like I
I never questioned whether an extra point was going to
go in. So I started hearing murmurs all because I
was on the sideline, and I was like, wait, he
missed it. And I knew at that point. I think
we lost because there wasn't enough time, Like I think

(01:15:34):
they needed to do one time out. And I remember,
like I got in there because I actually didn't play
that championship game. I was super pissed they they put
it in the sophomore You remember the sophomore. Remember, I
was pissed and I did job. He did a good job.
He probably did a great job. I was pissed, but

(01:15:56):
I was I was mad. I was like, you know,
this entire season I started, and then but I remember
they put me in there, and I'm I missed the draw.
The quarterback at it, and then he did a draw
to the running back. I tackled the quarterback and I
was like, damn, you know it was all on me.

(01:16:18):
But dude, I still have nightmares to this day about
that game. Do you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
Yeah? It was. It was not fun.

Speaker 3 (01:16:28):
And in that scene in the movie where they're crying
in the locker room, I'm like, yep, I've been there.
Like do you remember how quiet it was in that
locker room once we left or once we lost.

Speaker 2 (01:16:40):
Yeah, I got out of there. They handed me some
metal and I chunked it and I'm sticking around.

Speaker 3 (01:16:53):
Year or SI did not go as well. But yeah,
I remember just sitting there like just shocked. I remember
nobody knew what to say, nobody knew what to do.
It really felt like we just didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
It felt like the movie D because you expect to
like you expect to like where we're the good guys.
We worked all season. We had a purpose to play this.

Speaker 3 (01:17:16):
Season, right, we were playing for Kwame.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
Yeah, it was destiny. It was the season of destiny
and to get that close, and I don't know, it's
a bummer.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
It was. It was, but I still think that, Uh,
I don't know, that could be a book. I've heard
some people talk about writing a book about that season,
like ye, like people like coaches, former coaches of ours.
You know, I've heard a parent talk about it, like
I don't know, Yeah, it's a cool story.

Speaker 2 (01:17:43):
Oh yeah, we talked about it. You could. We could
because we didn't have lights that year. We didn't get
lights until our senior year. And we were like, oh,
we'll call it Saturday afternoon heat.

Speaker 3 (01:17:52):
Yeah. We used to play the day, yeah, the day
all right, were gonna take our last break and then
we're gonna give our final thoughts and then Kaz is
gonna go to bed, all right, all right, we're back

(01:18:17):
here on Friday Night Lights. We went through everything. We
talked about the movie, the book, we talked about the soundtrack,
the TV show, we talked about our football experience. So now, Kaz,
let's go to the final thoughts and we're gonna do
our rating. So the rating we do here on Radio
Red Show is we take something out of ten. It

(01:18:39):
could be a noun, it could be a quote. You
and I in high school. We went to a Van
Halen concert. So if we were read with David Lee Roth,
I'll say so, if we were rating Van Halen, we
would give it ten out of ten. Running with the Devil,

(01:18:59):
all right, so hell yeah, or Hot for Teachers. So, Kas,
what are your final thoughts and what would you rank
Friday Night Lights ratings.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
I'd give it a I'd give it a solid seven
point five.

Speaker 3 (01:19:14):
Oh that's lower than I thought.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
Okay, I think it's a phenomenal movie. Maybe I'm a
little maybe I'm a little tough on my scores. I
think it's a phenomenal movie. I think it's a great story.
But at the end of the day, they didn't get
the job done. A bunch of losers.

Speaker 3 (01:19:31):
It is interesting. It's interesting that they didn't do this
the story about when they won the.

Speaker 2 (01:19:37):
State champions Yeah, because it was the next year. It
was nineteen eighty nine and Chris Comer alt him. I
think he had like eighteen hundred yards.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
He was awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
Could he's the beast?

Speaker 3 (01:19:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
No, I mean they're not losers. Like it was a
tough year. They got dealt some bad cards, but like
they made the best out of it, and like, you know,
I'm still I'm sure they're still doing their thing down
in at Permian and high school. Ye. People are crazy
about it. But yeah, yeah, I mean I think it
was a great movie. I think the soundtrack was really good.
I think the cinematography was great. I think the acting

(01:20:07):
was really good. I think the coaching was sus and
I would be interested to see how long coach Gaines
coached at Arian. But yeah, I think I think it
was a really good minute.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):
I think he left in eighty nine, So he left
after the championship and then he went to Texas Tech
to be in Thiscacty. Okay, Yeah, and I guess he
came back like two thousand and nine to twenty twelve
or something like that he came back to finish his career.
I really yeah, it's cool. Yeah, pretty cool. Final thoughts

(01:20:43):
for me, Yeah, this was a very formative movie in
high school. I don't talk a lot about sports on
this podcast, but sports was a huge thing for me
and still is in certain aspects. So there was something
about that time of life where so optimistic, pretty influential.

(01:21:09):
Not like I was influential, but I was easily influenced,
you know, and just wanting to be a part of
something bigger. And I think that this movie does it well.
And what I love about this movie is it's so
of the time of when it was created. It's artistic.

(01:21:29):
I think it does so well. As far as like
book adaptations, this is this has got to be up there.
I mean it's pretty accurate, and yeah, there's some tweaks
and stuff, but for the most part, it's it's to
a tea and you know, it's a it's a great story. Again,
if you haven't read the book, read the book. It

(01:21:50):
goes in a lot detail. You know, there's there's some
stuff there that's like kind of hard to to to read,
but it's it's part of our history. And it's part
of the history of this Yeah, thank you Kaz for
being on this so awesome. Let me get the rating,
so I will give Friday Night Lights. I gotta give
it nine out of ten yard signs, football yard sign Okay, okay, yeah,

(01:22:16):
remember we had those two We were stealing from this
movie so much, dude, Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:22:22):
Signs. Yeah, and I give it seven point five mojos.

Speaker 3 (01:22:25):
There you go, there you go. Awesome. Thank you so much, Guz,
this was awesome. We don't always get to talk and
this length and things like that, so I love it.
I've always said this, whenever we talk and whenever we reconnect,
it's like we just pick up from where we took off.
So thank you for being on Ready to retro. Thank

(01:22:46):
you for listening. Is there anything you want to promote
or anything that you want our listeners to know about?

Speaker 2 (01:22:53):
No, just tune in next week.

Speaker 3 (01:22:57):
Yeah awesome. All right, Well, we are signing off from Odessa, Texas.
We'll see you next week as we have Brian Levant.
He's gonna be returning and we're gonna be talking about
his brand new book, The Fifty Years of Happy Days.
It's gonna be an awesome episode and If you don't
know who Brian Levant is, that's a director of Jingle

(01:23:19):
the Way Baby. He also worked on the show. So
even if you're not a huge Happy Days fans, check
it out because this is a guy who's really passionate
about the work that he was involved with, and this
is a passion project for him. So we'll see you
next week. We're ready to retro, are you